Restauranteur Erin Wade Creates Tools for Workers
‘Not on the Menu’ Seeks to Prevent Sexual Harassment in Restaurants
A mid growing awareness of sexual harassment throughout our culture, the food-service world has major work to do: Studies suggest that 90% of restaurant and bar workers experience harassment in the workplace at some point in their career.
Enter Chef Erin Wade, owner of Homeroom restaurant in Oakland, California, whose new project, Not on the Menu, empowers employees to speak up and take action when they feel a co-worker or customer is putting them on the spot.
With a poster and zine, the campaign provides a system for identifying harassment using a “Color Code of Conduct” based on vibes, words and escalations. Each level suggests a response and action that can be taken, so that victims won’t be at a loss for what to say. The zine defines “Reaction, Recourse and Examples” for three levels of harassment, goes over “Impact vs. Intentions” and gives a sample script for managers to use when harassment is reported.
Wade developed the policy for her own restaurant, and it has been named a national best practice by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
As she wrote in an op-ed for The Washington Post in 2018, the system was inspired by real-life experience:
“The catalyst was a customer—a father of four who had put his hand up the shirt of a busser clearing his family’s table. The busser was so stunned she didn’t report it, but the event sparked a flood of reactions from staff members who’d had similar experiences. At our meeting, women shared stories about harassment from customers and said that when they tried to report it to male managers, they were often ignored because the incidents seemed unthreatening through a male lens.”
Thus the system was born, and now a portion of the proceeds from sales will benefit La Cocina SF, which provides opportunities in food business to immigrant and low-income women entrepreneurs. The unlaminated 11- by 17-inch poster sells for $9.99 and a laminated 24- by 38-inch version for $19.99; the zine is $9.99. For more information, visit NotOnTheMenu.org.
